6/08/2008

Breaking Earth NewsHong KongSTREETS in Hong Kong were flooded by torrential rain on Saturday, as lightning and thunder roared above the southern Chinese city for several hours.

The Hong Kong Observatory upgraded the storm to a 'black' at 6.40am, as more than 200 millimetres of rain was dumped in the city overnight.

The 'black' warning means 70 millimetres of rain was expected to fall in just one hour.

The downpour caused severe flooding across some streets of Hong Kong island.

In the western district of Sheung Wan entire streets were hit as amid thunder and lightning people looked for ways to navigate the floods as water flowed over pavements. Shopkeepers stacked sandbags in an effort to keep their businesses watertight.

'This is the heaviest rain I have seen in years,' said Mr Edmund Kwan, an office worker who was waiting for his girlfriend at the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) station.

In some areas water was almost up to the windows of parked cars as people rolled up their trousers and waded through knee-deep water in flip-flops.